True-Life Adventures

"True-Life Adventure" by Julie Smith [Smith, Julie], published by booksBnimble. A Prize Plot . - San Francisco Examiner A bright, light, cleverly written tale. - Cincinnati Post Things were going lousy for ex-reporter Paul Mcdonald: No money, no girl friend, no bright new career as a mystery novelist and then along came PI Jack Birnbaum with an offer. Hed detect, and Paul would write the client reports. It wasnt much, but it would keep Spot the cat in Kitty Queen tidbits. And then this: That stuffll kill you. What? Your coffee? Jack was just doctoring his second cup. No. All that sweetener. Youre poisoning yourself. Weve all gotta go sometime. Jack went right about then. His eyes rolled back and he let go of the cup. Coffee sloshed all over my rug. His big body fell forward in the chair. A day that begins with a body in your living room really ought to get better, but next comes burglary and after that, assault-by-cop. And Pauls got a feeling thats just the beginning. There must have been something someone didn't want him to know in one of those client reports. But what? These were the facts: I was thirty-eight. Id spent fifteen years on one major metropolitan daily or another. Id written six unpublished detective novels. Unpublished in spite of my name. John D. MacDonald did it daily. Ross Macdonald did it deeper. Gregory Mcdonald did it with dash. Wrote thrillers and got them published. But not Paul Mcdonald. I just wrote them, supporting my habit with clients like Jack. I had about two hundred bucks to last me the rest of my life. My only client was dead. The market for mysteries was terrible. I didnt get out enough. The only thing Id ever done successfully was write newspaper stories. And I was sitting on a great story. A story he can sell, if he can catch the murderer before the murderer catches him. Birnbaum's last report concerned a kidnapped child, so Paul begins there. The trail leads him to the laboratory of a Nobel laureate geneticist, and then to City Hall, where an extremely nasty surprise awaits. But theres an upsidelovely witness Sardis Kincannon. Nothing like falling in love while youre running for your life! One more blithe San Fran outing with a likeable journalist-sleuth by the name of Paul Mcdonald Smith improves with each story and this is her best to date . - Kirkus Reviews The San Francisco Bay Area shines here, as does the author's wit and humor. Fans of CASTLE, MURDER SHE WROTE, even ELLERY QUEEN will enjoy this fast-paced and funny take on the mystery-writer-as-detective. Book details: published 1985. Order now on BookShops.in with fast, reliable delivery across India.